Help please..newbie modler

[EIKN]

Hi I need some advice please . Actually a few questions. Tho most pressing is I've suddenly got an intermittent connection at previously good points on my very long straight . My layout is still being changed around .currently from that point I have a slight curve the a double bend curve. The inner most serves my ' terminus station. And has two platforms 3 lines . The outermost line sometimes works sometimes not.
I have another set of points leading to a sort of loop but that has no power .
I cannot think of anything I've done beyond change the loop from a previous config.
Also installed further down my long straight runs from the bedroom wall terminus along my long hallway and terminates for now at a buffer.
I have a transformer but no wires to connect to the wee track with two brass screws
Please can someone help with this and advise what wires / p/n I need?.
I have some cross connectors to link power from one track to another but cannot find slots in the points for them.
( I'm an IT guy so total newbie).
Also two locos . One doesn't move but lights up.
Class47
A class 37 that moves a wee bit then stops .
Not sure why.
Doesn't run like they claimed.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Waldgrun]

Where to start? One, I believe you need to provide details of make and scale. What tools do you have? i.e. volt meter, track cleaner?
Have you tried an modelers forum? (most on this site know about trains 12 inch to 1 foot scale, but little on scales below!)

 

[Cowley]

A couple of questions - Are you running this on DC or DCC? I’m assuming DC but it’d be good to know (google if not sure).
Could you post a couple of photos of the locos and wiring?
Also what sort of points and track are you using? Is it Hornby/Peco?
Sometimes the little tabs under the point blades can become slightly loose or just a tiny bit bent away from the area of rail they have to meet when they’re changed. This will cause it not to work properly along with things like dirty rails and wheels.

What make and age roughly are your locomotives?
Older Lima/Hornby or other stuff from the 1970s - early 2000s can run quite badly compared to newer models.

 

[EIKN]

Hi guys. Just a quick reply as I'm very tired and it's late . Much of my straight track is new . 4 sets of points - new ( 00) gauge . Mix of hornby and lima second hand locos .
The power I think is old hat DC . ( my expertise is computer repairs and the new high speed Mastband internet just being trialled and rolled out).
I also have a couple of faulty locos . One is a class 37. Looks like a deltic to me.
Moves a tiny bit n stops.
Another class 47 . Lights up no movement both sold as perfect . All from eBay.
Two HST locos both fine. Or were until I suffered power failure after rebuilding the layout again. Used a spirit level to keep the track perfect straight. No bouncy track.
Cleaned older blackened rails.
Bought link wires which I accidentally reversed . But yet train ran on the section is built thus far ( ive started again after getting a hornby terminus station).
Basically after starting a branch off the long straight from the the station. 3 straights via points to a long single line ( will be leading away) this is on my wood floor and will run round the bedroom and the straight along the very long corridor into a station in the living room.
I have no space to put a mount board !.
Cleaned floors well first too.
Everything worked until behind the outermost point leading to my new loop ( hopefully to form an oval there is the remaining straight track alongside the outer platform of the station.
As soon as I moved thecloco to the short completed curve to switch the point back to the straight . It all died .
As it's late I can't take pictures now plus I'm not sure how to upload them here.
But now it's all dead. previously the loco went through all the points all the first three tracks . Ran fast . No problem at all.
One thing to note is crossed my link wires b -a by mistake ( small hornby clips go between two tracks) but it worked ok like that.
I've put them all right now.
Even tried a link from the other track to the one that was dead . No joy.
The loco is in good condition think it's a lima some kind of grey freight loco .narrow centre square shape and yellow at each end flat fronted.
( as I say I'm a novice ) .
Sorry if this makes little sense .
I have an illness which caused brain fog ( Fybromyalgiea ) and memory loss.
If Somone can please help plus let me know how to post images. I will.
Many many thanks for the replies so far .
Best wishes .
Jon

 

[GusB]

Without a bit more information, this is probably going to be quite difficult to solve. Could you possibly post a diagram of the layout you have set up, indicating which wires you have connected and from where? It might be something stupidly obvious that's causing your issues, but it will be nigh impossible to solve from a purely verbal description. You mention that you'd crossed your wires by mistake - short-circuit, perhaps? A relatively simple controller should have some sort of cut-out device which might have kicked in.

Cowley's question about the track is also important - what make are the points you're using?

 

[Cowley]

Agreed Gus. I reckon it’ll be something fairly simple though.
Ok Jon. I’ll just leave this with you.
Have you made a loop like the blue line on this diagram?

Or by loop do you mean an oval (as in a complete circuit) like this?

If you want to download photos press the ‘Upload a file’ box below your post and you can upload it straight from your phone etc.

 

[BlythPower]

If you can, it may be worth trying each loco on a simple straight length of track. Make sure the track and loco wheels are clean first. That way it may help isolate whether the problem is with the power supply, track, individual locos, etc.